You don’t need a passport to watch a 40-ton humpback launch itself out of the ocean. With nearly 95,000 miles of coastline, the United States offers some of the best whale watching on the planet, from icy Alaskan fjords to sun-soaked Hawaiian bays. Grab your binoculars, pack a windbreaker, and check out these ten spots where “thar she blows” is more than just a saying.

1) Juneau, Alaska
Alaska’s capital sits at the edge of the Inside Passage, where humpback whales gather by the hundreds every summer to feed before their long migration south. Tour boats regularly witness bubble-net feeding, a rare cooperative hunting technique where whales blow rings of bubbles to trap schools of herring before lunging through the surface together. Address: Juneau, AK 99801
Website: https://www.traveljuneau.com

2) Icy Strait & Hoonah, Alaska
Just west of Glacier Bay, the waters around Point Adolphus and Icy Strait hold one of the densest concentrations of humpback whales anywhere in the world. Boats out of Hoonah routinely spot both humpbacks and orcas cruising the same stretch of water, often within sight of snow-capped peaks.
Address: Hoonah, AK 99829
Website: https://www.hoonah.org

3) San Juan Islands, Washington
This scattering of islands in the Salish Sea is one of the few places on earth where you can spot orcas from dry land. Lime Kiln Point State Park on San Juan Island, nicknamed “Whale Watch Park,” lets visitors watch resident and transient killer whale pods glide past the shoreline, no boat required.
Address: Lime Kiln Point State Park, 1567 Westside Rd, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Website: https://sanjuanislandwhalewatch.com/

4) Depoe Bay, Oregon
Depoe Bay proudly calls itself the “Whale Watching Capital of the Oregon Coast,” and it earns the title with a resident pod of gray whales that feeds just offshore for much of the year. The state-run Whale Watching Center sits right on the harbor, staffed with volunteers who help visitors spot active whales without ever leaving shore.
Address: Whale Watching Center, 119 SW US-101, Depoe Bay, OR 97341
Website: https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=183

5) Monterey Bay, California
Monterey Bay’s deep underwater canyon pulls nutrient-rich water close to shore, creating a magnet for marine life that includes humpbacks, gray whales, orcas, and even the biggest animal on Earth, the blue whale. Pair a whale-watching cruise with a stroll along historic Cannery Row or a visit to the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Address: Monterey, CA 93940
Website: https://www.seemonterey.com/things-to-do/animals-and-wildlife/whale-watching/

6) San Diego, California
San Diego offers whale watching almost year-round, but winter is the headliner, when gray whales pass by on their 10,000-mile migration between Alaska and Baja California. Humpbacks, fin whales, and pods of dolphins round out the sightings the rest of the year, making San Diego one of the rare spots where a boat trip nearly always turns up something.
Address: San Diego, CA 92101
Website: https://www.sandiego.org/things-to-do/tours-road-trips/whale-watching-boat-tours

7) Maui, Hawaii
Every winter, thousands of humpback whales trade Alaska’s cold waters for the warm, shallow channel between Maui, Lanai, and Molokai to mate and give birth. It’s one of the most reliable whale shows anywhere, and calves are often seen breaching alongside their mothers just offshore.
Address: Maalaea Harbor, Wailuku, HI 96793
Website: https://hawaiioceanrafting.com/maui-whale-watching-tours/

8) Provincetown, Massachusetts
Perched at the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown sits near Stellwagen Bank, a shallow underwater plateau so rich with food that humpbacks, minke whales, and even the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale gather there each year. Boats can reach prime whale-watching grounds in under an hour, making this one of the most accessible trips on the East Coast.
Address: Provincetown, MA 02657
Website: https://ptowntourism.com/whale-watching/

9) Kennebunkport, Maine
This classic New England beach town is known for lighthouses and lobster rolls, but it’s also a dependable spot to catch minke and humpback whales, along with the occasional North Atlantic right whale sighting. Cap off a day on the water with a lobster roll at The Clam Shack, a local institution.
Address: Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Website: https://newenglandecoadventures.com/

10) Seward / Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
Boat tours out of Resurrection Bay and the outer fjords put you among lunge-feeding humpbacks, orcas working the kelp lines around the Chiswell Islands, plus Steller sea lions and sea otters. A 2.5-hour drive from Anchorage, so it’s an easy add-on to a Denali/Anchorage itinerary.
Address: Seward, Alaska
Website: https://alaskashoretours.com/tours/seward/water_boat/6-hour-kenai-fjords-national-park-cruise

Whether you’re chasing bubble-net feeding humpbacks in Alaska or watching a mother-and-calf pair glide through the warm waters off Maui, a whale-watching trip is one of the few travel experiences that can turn even the most jaded traveler into a kid pointing and shouting at the ocean. Pick a coast, pick a season, and go find your own “thar she blows” moment.